C-E grad wins national scholarship

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A recent graduate from Colman-Egan High School has won a $20,000 scholarship from the Gehl Foundation.

Jessica Wittrock was awarded her scholarship a few weeks ago at the start of a facility-wide meeting at Gehl’s Madison location.

The meeting was led by Rick Alton, president of Manitou Group's compact equipment product division, which includes Gehl as a brand.

Manitou designs, manufactures and distributes compact equipment for construction, agriculture, industry and other applications.

Only two of these large scholarships are given throughout the country each year to students whose parents work at the company.

Wittrock, whose dad Dean works at Gehl, said she attended the meeting thinking she would receive the $1,000 scholarship that all college-bound applicants do.

When she saw a big check being brought to the stage, she realized what was happening.

“Your heart kind of stops,” Wittrock said. “You just get shocked, it was a big deal.”

She accepted the scholarship in front of about 200 members of the company.

To apply, Wittrock said she had to write an essay explaining why she should receive the scholarship, how she would use the funds and include any awards and activities she was involved with at her school.

During high school, she played volleyball and basketball, ran cross country, was a football cheerleader, participated in band, choir, Oral Interp, One Act Play and attended Girls State.

She also won MVP at the Entringer Classic, was a member of the National Honor Society for three years, qualified for state cross country five years and earned academic all-state for both basketball and cross country, amongst other awards.

Wittrock was also involved with FBLA, FCCLA and FCA.

“Pretty much anything you can think of, I was in,” Wittrock said.

Throughout high school, she volunteered to serve at The Bread Basket, helped with bake sales at her church and has volunteered at the Brookings Regional Humane Society.

Wittrock said she would encourage other students in small schools like Colman-Egan to get involved and try everything.

“We’re from a small school, so it’s hard to not be involved at all,” Wittrock said. “I just thought I might as well. I’m obviously not going to get do all of this in college. Why not just try it? And a lot of the stuff I tried and I loved it.”

Through dual-credit classes, Wittrock has already completed over half of her first semester of college, which she will begin at South Dakota State University this fall with a major in nursing.

She said she always knew she wanted to be a nurse, though she seriously debated between that and a veterinarian because of her love for animals.

To gain some experience, she began working at the Riverview Healthcare Community in Flandreau and has been there for three years.

Wittrock said she is already planning on coming back next summer and doing some CNA work for the nursing home.

During her first year of college, she said she wants to relax a bit and focus mostly on her studies, but will still plan to play volleyball and basketball intramurals, work at the wellness center on campus and continue volunteering at the humane society.

Wittrock is the daughter of Dean Wittrock and Kari Wittrock.